Russell Hobbs 18036 Breadmaker Review

on May 17, 2016

Russell Hobbs are one of the most well-known kitchen appliance manufacturers in the country today. They’ve been manufacturing high-quality, affordable cookware for over 60 years now – breadmakers being one of their more recent additions.

The 18036 is one of the most compact breadmakers available on the market today. Despite this, it is still packed with features including;

Product Features

Fast bake – this nifty option gives you the ability to bake loaves of bread in as little as an hour.

Easy cleaning– both the bread pan and kneading blade are non-stick and dishwasher safe, making cleaning your machine a breeze.

Non-slip feet– using a bread-maker on shiny worktops has never been safer.

The 18036 can be found on Amazon here, where the low price will get you;

The machine itself

Baking pan

Kneading blade

Kneading blade

Instruction booklet with recipes

Free UK delivery

So – how did the small-but-mighty 18036 perform when tested out by the BreadMakerReviews.co.uk team?

Ratings and reviews

Quality - 8

80 %

Performance - 8

80 %

Features - 80

80 %

As a whole, we were impressed with the 18036’s performance – especially for its low price. However, it isn’t as versatile as some of its higher-end cousins.

A quick browse through the instruction booklet dash ‘recipe book’ and we were left a bit disappointed at the lack of step-by-step recipes. Seeing as we’d already had a fair amount of experience with bread makers, this wasn’t too much of an issue for us, but we can imagine it would be for someone who hasn’t used one before.

However, the quantities of the different ingredients needed were listed – better than nothing.

We were surprised by the lack of dispenser on the machine – so a seeded loaf wasn’t an option. Instead, we decided to make some French bread, a whole wheat loaf, and some cake.

First up, the French bread.

French bread is different to regular bread due to the way that the flour is milled, which then, in turn, offers a different texture to the finished product.

We weighed out all of our ingredients according to the recipe, and – with a bit of help from some online resources – placed the ingredients into the machine in the correct order.

We decided to leave testing the machine’s ‘fast bake’ feature to when we made our whole wheat loaf. We’re glad we did- It’s fair to say that the wait was absolutely worth it.

The bread was perfectly fluffy in texture, whilst the crust was perfectly crispy – but not burnt. Paired with some butter and soft cheese, our loaf didn’t even last a day.

Next, the whole wheat loaf – made using the ‘fast bake’ feature.

Don’t let the ‘fast bake’ feature put you off – you receive just as good results as you would if you waited for the regular amount of time.

Our whole wheat loaf was perfectly textured, and was just as tasty as the whole wheat loaves that we had created with other bread makers, waiting for the full amount of time.

Lastly, some cake.

Again, following the recipe-less recipe book, we weighed out our ingredients, placed them into the machine, and set the program up.

Several hours later, and we had a light, fluffy, and moist cake that was ready for icing (the half that we had left after having a ‘small bite’ once it had cooled down, anyway).

All three products were made very easily. The interface of the machine is easy to use, which makes the slightly-lacking recipe booklet seem like a bit of a non-issue.

The machine also lives up to its ‘easy clean’ claims. Once we were finished, both the pan and blade could be placed in the dishwasher, where they came out looking undamaged and spotless afterwards.

The 18036 comes with many advantages.

The main thing we liked about this machine was its ease of use. The safety features, when combined with the easy interface, make it an ideal option for someone purchasing a bread maker for the very first time.

It’s also an ideal budget option – best for someone who is only using the bread maker in a domestic setting, or isn’t going to be churning out loaves and cakes every single day of the week.

The fast bake feature is also a bonus – but we would save using it only when it’s really, really needed. It didn’t impact the quality of a basic whole wheat loaf too much, but it could prove to massive decrease the quality of more complex recipes such as French bread or cake.

Finally, we found that the viewing window made a nice touch. The crust control function does allow you to control how dark you like your crust, but for any fuss-pots out there, it’s nice to have a visual idea of how well your bread is coming along.

The machine does come with a few disadvantages – none that massively hinder your bread-making experience, though.

The instruction booklet that comes with the machine doesn’t feature full recipes as such, more just the quantities of ingredients that you need. If you aren’t familiar with bread makers or are unable to find step-by-step recipes for any reason, this may prove to be a problem.

However – the machine is easy to use and navigate, which may ease this issue slightly.

Another problem – which is a bit of a non-issue – is that the machine doesn’t feature a fruit, nut, or seed dispenser. If this is a feature that you have your eye on in particular, we would recommend searching for another machine.

The 18036 is also a tad noisier than some of the breadmakers that we’ve tested, but this can easily be solved by closing the door to whichever room you’ve placed the machine.

Russell Hobbs 18036 Breadmaker Review

On a whole, the 18036 is one of the best breadmakers available on the market in this particular price bracket.
It would make a good starter bread-maker, or one to use if you aren’t going to be making a loaf every single day. The fast bake feature is handy for impatient types, and the various program settings offer a lot of variety in terms of finished product.

On a whole, the 18036 is one of the best breadmakers available on the market in this particular price bracket.
It would make a good starter bread-maker, or one to use if you aren’t going to be making a loaf every single day. The fast bake feature is handy for impatient types, and the various program settings offer a lot of variety in terms of finished product.

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